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Seam Finishing
Seam Finishing
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Seam Finishing

Project

Status
In Progress
Date Created
April 1, 2026
Author
U
Untitled
Tools & Skills
sewing
[CoF] Careers of the Future
Launch Lab Connection
Fashion Manufacturing DD
Competency
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Material List

Supplies
Quantity
URL
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Sewing Safety

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While in operation always keep your eyes on the sewing area. Do not touch or put your hand near any moving parts such as

  • needle
  • needle clamp screw
  • thread take-up lever
  • hand-wheel
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Always turn off the power switch and unplug from the power supply:

  • When leaving the machine unattended.
  • When threading the machine.
  • When attaching or removing parts like needles and presser feet.
  • When cleaning the machine.
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Follow tips to avoid breaking sewing needles

  • Use the correct needle for your fabric.
  • Do not push or pull material when sewing. Allow feed dog to move material.
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When operating fabric shears:

  • Do not place your hands around or near the blade
  • Do not place your hands in the way of the scissors when cutting your fabric

Let’s talk seam finishing!

All cut woven fabric will fray, threads will come off the edge making the fabric weaker.

On the edge of rolls of fabric there is a special part called the Selvage this part of the fabric is woven way tighter than the rest of the fabric, makings it so it can't fray.

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Seam finishing Techniques

Test out a few seam finishing techniques by making a seam finishing sampler before deciding which one you would like to use on a project!

Beginner! - Pinking shears

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Pinking shears are the easiest was to control the fraying of a woven fabric. Cutting a zig-zag into the edge into a fabric makes it the fabric only frays within the width of the zig-zag.

Intermediate!

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Zig-zag stitch

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Zig-zag machine setup. We will use our regular #5 stitch but we will change the settings.

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While stitching make sure your needle is doing one stitch on your fabric and one stitch off the fabric as it moves left and right.

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Advanced!

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Serger (overlock)

Sergers, sometimes called overlock machines, are the most professional way to finish raw edges of fabric.

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If you look at the inside seams of your clothes you can likely see the chain stitches of a serger.

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Serger stitches with four threads, double the amount of a regular sewing machine, this makes it so more threrad can wrap around the edge of the fabric making it more durable.

Sergers also can trim the fabric to neaten it up. It is VERY IMOPORTANT TO LINE UP THE FABRIC CORRECTLY or you may cut fabric you didn't mean to.

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There is no backstitching with a serger.

To secure our stitches we need to leave extra chains of threads at the beginning and end of our fabric to keep the serger stitches from unraveling.